I AM writing this letter in the hope that airline passengers will read it and take note.

I am a member of cabin crew for a major charter airline in the UK.

Only three days after the terrible events in America, I was called out to do a flight to Tenerife.

The flight was five hours delayed and when we arrived most of the passengers were very understanding.

However, there was one group of 25-30 year olds travelling together who had used the five hours to get drunk.

Most of them boarded the plane carrying on like they owned it, while four of them continued to drink in the bar.

To cut a long story short, one of the passengers was off-loaded causing maximum disturbance on the plane.

Families and elderly people trying to get home had to endure their rude behaviour for the four and a half hour journey.

Whilst problems like this occur on flights, I found it very hard to believe these human beings could be so disrespectful at a time when air travel is going through a major catastrophe.

If passengers were made aware of just how many cabin crew have gone sick in the last few days because of what has happened, and how hard it has been for airlines to get crew and aircrafts in the air, then maybe they would be more sympathetic to the cabin crew on board.

I think I speak for all airline staff across the world when I say all of our lives have been changed forever.

We find ourselves in the cabin looking at every passenger who looks remotely out of sort.

We find ourselves asking questions like: how can I do a good job when I am terrified to come to work'?

We are trained to deal with emergencies on the plane, but how do you deal with people armed with knives ready to kill you?

I am hoping passengers will realise that without crew on board, they cannot go anywhere, and that we are only doing a job like anyone else.

So before having a go at crew because you're not sitting right next to whom you want to be sat next to, or because your vegetarian meal has not been ordered, have a thought for what may be going through their minds.

It is fast becoming one of the most stressful jobs I know of and it can only be helped by passenger patience.

A member of cabin crew, Halton